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CoolieFroggie

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I dont' know if this a re-post then put it up with me!

I really had hard time with people who don't know about relay and they would keep HANG up on me cuz they think it's a scam.

last week i was trying to apply one place and i called them to see if they already looked at my applacation somehow they pick the phone and heard the relay announce and they said * I don't want to talk with you and hung up* I was wtf... so i called back and relay the message * why you don't want to talk me?* so the lady pick and announce same thing and the lady said *because the company policy don't take relay calls* Flyfree got her face so RED and we both went to that place and talk with lady who we called and face to her.. said * did u pick with any relay calls? the lady said.. yes.. so flyfree were flaming on her and said.. * why you hung up on michelle TWICE and u don't give her a chance to explain and she asking for the applaction and u hung up on michelle twice* she said.. WE can't do that cuz of scams.. flyfree said * im sorry but you will HAVE to accpet all any of relays call and it's against the law to accpet no matter what* she keep saying same thing so once.. flyfree flick the bird to her face without touching her and leave.. so right now we are processing to sue them as dicrmantion on me.

so tell me your experience with any place with relay hung up on u.
 
Relay hung up on me? Hmm. All day long.

I've said it all along. Scams are ruining relay for everyone, especially the deaf community. Action NEEDS to be taken. This will be a problem even for VRS, simply because victims of scams will remember only one word, and associate it with scams, and that is relay.

http://www.stoprelayabuse.com
 
is that Wisc relay service? because i've heard they're lousy service.. and no hearies like to hear from wisc. relay service they're slow, always asking how u spell this, this, this.. over and over again
 
DeafSCUBA98 said:
is that Wisc relay service? because i've heard they're lousy service.. and no hearies like to hear from wisc. relay service they're slow, always asking how u spell this, this, this.. over and over again


I don't use wisconsin relay.. i called them thru my instant messager * My Ip Relay*.. so It's can be anywhere from those service again i dont' know where *my ip relay* from..
 
My IP Relay is the same service as IP-Relay.com, which is ran by MCI, whom is my current employer.
 
DeafSCUBA98 said:
is that Wisc relay service? because i've heard they're lousy service.. and no hearies like to hear from wisc. relay service they're slow, always asking how u spell this, this, this.. over and over again

Hearing people don't really distinguish between relay providers. To them, its all the same. Someone is typing what they're saying, and then reading what the user is typing.
 
i had the same thing happen to me coolie and ended upn GRABBING the interp that was standing near by and i made her bitch at them for hanging up on the deafies when i was trying to help my grrl change her flight tickets from panda travel ticket poeple due to stupid nigerian scams... but then the agent apologised afterwards and changed our flight tickets fast and then it was happy ending for us... however i have had plms with others hanging up and all but so far i tell them NOT to annouce who i am just let them end thier talk and i ll know which is GA and or NOT so this helped somewhat but lately been using captel phone to ensure i don t get hung up and i always ensure to educate abt the lag time of 4 to 6 seconds where it doesn't mean im ingoring them. and i trained myself to say humm huh uh mmmm so they know im listening and waiting for the end talk so i can clue myself in.... respectfully........ poepel need to stop with the abuse and respect the poeple who needs it the most!

honestly its the poeple that uses the relay.... lemme explain why...

theres one or several i dunno who who but have india Accent so they automatcially think its nigerian scams and *click* goes the phone... So please train your ROs to change the accents cuz it s one part of ruining the services....
 
:roll: Coolie, I don't blame you for being upset, that is an awful thing that happened. My husband is deaf, and when he calls me from work he uses the RI Relay, and they always start out by identifying the relay service, then clearly saying that "I am receiving a call from a person who maybe deaf or hard of hearing, have I ever used Relay before?" I don't understand why this women thought this could be a scam and so wrong for them to say they cannot accept Relay calls. How else are you supposed to be able to talk to hearies? Hearies can be so undereducated at times and ignorant and then you find some who will go out of their way to be so nice when they receive a relay call.
My husband called my oil company recently through the RI Relay to order oil. When the gentleman accepted the call and said he would deliver the oil sometime that day. When the same man who took the call arrived to deliver oil, he asked to speak to my husband who place the Relay call. This man told my husband that he thought the Relay call was so cool, he really liked it, and told my husband to call him again on the relay and he doesn't want me to call again, lol, because he likes the Relay better. I thought that was so cute and laughed.
I hope hearies become better educated to the communicational needs of the deaf and hard of hearing to make life easier and not more complicated.
 
Educating the public is the only way anything will get done. It is so easy to distinguish between a legit call and scam call within the first couple of lines. As much as I'd have to say it, free public relay is the problem. Because it is open and free to the public, anyone who wants to use it has access to it. And it is getting to the point, where calls to businesses will be impossible. This is good that they're not taking the chance to be scammed, but it is ridiculous and offensive that they are too lazy to either direct the caller to their website to place an order or to inform them they don't take orders over the phone.
 
Yes, I had same plms last year. I called the restaurant to order foods for carry out thru relay service. The lady answered and hang up on me. I had relay service to call them again, same thing hang up on me about five times so I told relay operator to get a manager without saying "This is relay service" and they finally got manager on phone and explained to the manager how rude that they hang up on me five times. He said that they thought that it was spam or sell things. He was very apologied and offered me free meal plus dessert! I ordered expensive meal! :dance2:
 
Yeah, the similar issue happened to me too, just everything many AD'ers said above. It's fustrating and the hearing people need to be educated for sure. :)
 
javapride said:
theres one or several i dunno who who but have india Accent so they automatcially think its nigerian scams and *click* goes the phone... So please train your ROs to change the accents cuz it s one part of ruining the services....

As far as I know, accents aren't a major problem at all. All call center locations are located here within the United States, with the exception of MCI's one call center located in the Phillipines. I've never heard about people thinking a relay call is a scam because the operator has an accent. If you are hung up on by a business it is usually for one of these 2 reasons: 1. the businesses is aware of scam calls going on and they have never had an actual deaf user call them, only scams, or 2. they think the operator is a telemarketer and trying to sell something. Either way, there are ways to get around this. Most effective would be tell the operator to call back, to not announce relay, and you type out your own msg before the call for the operator to read once someone picks up that explains that you are deaf, that the operator will type what you say, and that he will read back your response. If they hang up after that, I say throw the book at them. Go down there in person, and let the manager know what is going on. If the manager shows inaction, report it to the Better Business Bureau.

And sequoias is right, it would make all of our lives a lot easier if the hearing world was just a tad bit more considerate and open minded.
 
cental i can see ur point but yah i gotta say yes accents makes for the reasons why we have this problem....

and u say MCI has thier base in phillipines??? intresting enuff they also have accents we didnt have this problems on the mainland nor this after the nigerian scam exposed all over the place now we have to show the uneducated poeple what the issue is. Seriously...... its gotta stop.. no i'm not discrimincating the poeple who have accents. i'm just concerned this is one sure fire way for poeple to revert thier mind to the scam cuz of the one word. NIGERIAN... see the point???

for every good egg theres one rotten egg, and its setting the deaf community back on this issue which is why we're usually using the relay service via VP where we tell them not to annouce who the deaf person is calling for, OR we just basically GO inside the building and do our thing this takes up alot of our times. relay service has been around for a long time and we re starting to get disrespected because of the relay scams.... now the Deaf Community has to RE NETWORK the community to explain we need the relay and to convey our business with you how do you expect us to communicate if u keep hanging up on us???? it has to stop.... this is ONE other reasons why jobs are hard to find cux they don't know how we can communicate via phones or e mails. and thats real sad.... like fly free and coolie froggie who had to deal with the hang up all because of them wanting to see if they have checked applications for thier own future take it from me cental Deaf poeple may have some areas easy but the hardest is having the wall blocked up on us because of the relay scam that has impacted the hearing world AND the Deaf world. sad and suffice to say. its becoming a PITA ( pain in the ass) to explain to them we are not a scammer we're honest american trying to communicate with the everyman to make sure our business with them will not go sour.
 
I did not say MCI is based in the Phillipines. I said they have a call center located the Phillipines, along with the 4 other calls centers located within the US. I've got to disagree. Operators' accents are not a problem. Ask you family and friends that you call through relay. See what they tell you. And are you suggesting that people your relay call is a Nigerian because they hear an accent on the operator? Again, I don't follow. I've been on all ends of relay, as the voice, the text, and the operator, and have never heard of this problem.

But you are right. Hearing people need to be educated to be more considerate and to just take caution when handling relay calls. The business could make it as simple as asking "is this a scam call?" That will clear the line faster than anything if it is a scammer. Did you know that all scam calls are not just from Nigeria? There are rings in, not only, Nigeria, but Ghana, the Benin Republic, a few other lesser known Western African nations, and even a good amount of them that operate within the United States. Believe me, I understand the frustration as much as any of you when attempting to contact a business.
 
I had experience hang up calls in the past. It really pissed me off. I go there and started yelling at them. But one time. I made an appt with my doctor thru relay. The receptionist answered the call and she help me set up an appt. When I got there. She said that she loves the relay services so that make me feel better and not to worry about the hang up.
 
yeah that's why I don't use ip relay that much cuz it is pain in a$$ to put up with sometimes relay is slow and not understand what my mom say so I rather use text message heh.. :D
 
That happened to a friend of mine. She was trying to make an appointment for something...so I called up the place and chewed them a new asshole. Some people are so ignorant.
 
CoolieFroggie said:
Original post snipped

CoolieFroggie, the only way to fix this is to file a complaint with your relay service provider. It is THEIR JOB to educate the businesses about relay!!!!

In this case, you need to complain to My IP Relay. Their customer service info is hidden from their website. They seem to want to make it difficult to make a complaint. However, I was able to find something:

http://www.ddtp.org/california_relay_service/CRS_providers/#mci
MCI Customer Service - TTY/VCO/HCO/ASCII (800) 735-0193

MCI Customer Service - Voice/STS/Spanish (800) 735-0373

Call them and make a complaint. Give them information about the business that hangs up on you. If they're not going to accept responsibility to help you and educate the business on your behalf, you should stop using My IP Relay and use another relay provider that WILL help you. There are other relay providers that can give you what you want.
 
Try this. Connect to an operator, when they ask for nbr to dial, tell them you would like to be transferred customer service, and they will connect you with a relay customer service rep.
 
Dennis said:
CoolieFroggie, the only way to fix this is to file a complaint with your relay service provider. It is THEIR JOB to educate the businesses about relay!!!!

This is one area, I will defend MCI on. The scripts MCI uses are perfectly clear about what relay is, what it is intended for, and how it works. We cannot make people willing to take the time to let us explain them. Yes, a good majority of people are just stupid, yes, they are inconsiderate, no relay is not rocket science. It is our job to educate businesses, but we cannot force them to listen.
 
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